'Joy of pineapple' celebrated in park
By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer
Nearly 1,000 people stopped by the Pineapple Growers Association's Pineapple Festival yesterday in Ala Moana Park, organizers said.
Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser
The festival, marked by those green and yellow balloons fronting McCoy Pavilion, featured, well, pineapple — in just about every shape and form imaginable.
Roy Hamada was part of the Pineapple Squeeze musical group performing yesterday at the Pineapple Festival, which included pineapple snacks, souvenirs and memorabilia.
The growers themselves, Del Monte, Dole and Maui Land & Pineapple Company, handed out fresh pineapple, pineapple juice and pineapple salsa.
Entertainers, including a group called Pineapple Squeeze, provided music while kids played games for pineapple and cash prizes.
Pearl City High School students won a cook-off against Waipahu High School with a shrimp concoction served in a pineapple half. They called it the Love Boat.
Food booths, featuring pineapple-marinated shrimp, pineapple bread, candied pineapple on a stick, and just about every other form of pineapple imaginable, were manned by the Culinary Institute of the Pacific, Brew Moon, Dave & Busters, the Pacific Club and a number of other restaurants and food service facilities.
Local artists and artisans sold paintings of pineapple, gold pineapple pendants and pineapple soap. Vintage pineapple labels were available, as were pineapple-like plants, otherwise known as bromeliads.
The event, the second annual venture, was billed in Growers Association promotional materials as an opportunity to "share the joy of pineapple."
